Lewiston Board OKs 2013 budget, reviews rink improvements

by jmaloni

Sat, Nov 24th 2012 07:00 am

by
Terry Duffy

The
Town of Lewiston Board was proactive as it moved on various financial
fronts Monday. It approved a restructured $16.640 million town budget
for 2013; reviewed a number of improvements for the soon-to-open ice
rink at Academy Park and heard more on the benefits of Lewiston's
new surplus electrical power sales package.

Leading
off, the 2013 budget saw unanimous approval by the board.

The
plan, which was trimmed from a $17.9 million plan submitted earlier,
stays within the state's 2 percent tax cap and came to be as a
result of spending reductions, plus the town choosing to go the
low-interest bonding route versus new taxes to fund needed highway
paving work. "With the help of the board, all the department heads
and the highway superintendent, we were able to keep it down" said
Town Finance Director Michael Johnson, who added that, once again,
Lewiston, unlike other towns, will be able to avoid imposing a town
tax on its residents for the coming year and still stay within the 2
percent cap.

Johnson
explained that, thanks to a number of cost-saving factors, Lewiston
was able to hold the line this time around. Included were state
retirement expenses that came in less than expected; town insurance
costs that dropped an estimated $40,000 to $45,000 from last year;
the town facing a modest $4,000 increase over budgeted numbers in
workmen's compensation costs; increases in sales tax revenues; the
town reaching agreement with the Village of Lewiston on funding the
Lewiston Police Department budget; plus the town being able to
achieve favorable bonding for the Master Sewer District. Johnson
noted that Supervisor Steve Reiter was able to gain a significant
reduction in master sewer costs from $105 per unit to $35.90 per
unit. It's "one
of the major factors that kept us under the tax cap.

"It's
trimmed down," said Johnson of the overall budget, adding the town
needs to be very cautious on its spending in the future. "The next
three to five years, it will be a little bit different. After the
first of the year, we should start focusing on revenue and cut
spending."

Johnson
said that Reiter and the Town Board are already pursuing new revenue
sources and that Town Recreation Director Mike Dashineau is doing the
same for the town ice rink this year in the form of new sponsorships.

"This
budget is based on bonding money to do road construction for highway
... we're getting some (bonding) rates now, we hope to have this
done by the first of the year," said Johnson.

Board
members on roll call vote went on to approve the 2013 spending plan
soon after. It includes $10.862 million in appropriations (general,
general/outside village, highway/drainage-town outside village, and
the Water Pollution Control Center) - all fully funded with no
taxes; and $5.778 million in special districts funding (Lewiston
water improvement, fire protection, LMSIA, Lewiston south sewer,
Lewiston Heights and refuse) with $2.445 million to be raised by
taxes. Other highlights are a 3 percent increase in salaries for all
town employees, excluding the Town Board who "graciously gave
theirs up," said Johnson.

In
other news from the session:

•The
board approved a motion for $29,152 in electrical improvements at
Academy Park in preparation for the ice rink operations.

Reiter
said money for the improvements came from the recent sale of
Lewiston's low-cost power allocations on the market. He said that
as a result of a new arrangement for Lewiston to sell its annual New
York Power Authority low-cost power allocation of 6.5 megawatts, the
town was able to pay off more than $57,000 in debt owed to National
Grid - a final payment from an earlier staggering $1.2 million owed
to National Grid under an expired sales reimbursement arrangement. In
addition, Reiter said the town received $80,000 in its latest
electrical sales proceeds to fund the Academy Park work; and all new
electrical sales revenue to the town is going into an escrow account.
Reiter said further that the town is working on a water billing
package with the Village of Lewiston to have surplus money from town
electrical power sales go to lower water bills for village residents
in the form of a debit on their bills.

•In
related ice rink news, the town approved the hiring of new staffers
for the facility. Councilman Mike Marra reported that new sponsors
have been signed up and Dashineau is actively pursuing more. Sponsors
signed up thus far include: Wendt's Propane, in the form of $15,000
in assistance to cover heating costs and rental equipment related to
rink operations; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Local 37, with $20,000 in in-kind support for electrical upgrades;
Falls Tent, $5,000; and $5,000 from the Village of Lewiston.

Dashineau
seeks $17,000 in additional sponsorships from area businesses and is
expected to name them in the near future.

Reiter
closed by saying the rink, which will open on Dec. 1, will be
one-and-one-half times larger in size than last year's and more
elaborate, with the above facilities improvements plus a number of
embellishments coming from the Village of Lewiston. He went on to
praise the efforts of Dashineau, saying, "Mike is doing a great job
of getting costs defrayed." (See related Page 1 story on the ice
rink.)

•The
board set a public hearing for Monday, Dec. 10, at 5:45 p.m. to
consider a draft submitted by the town's Wind Tower Committee for a
new commercial wind energy code. It also reminded residents that a
public hearing to review the Lewiston's zoning map amendment will
occur Monday, Nov. 26, at 5:30 p.m., prior to the Town Board's
regular monthly meeting at Town Hall.

•The
board discussed, but took no action on, a possible purchase offer by
Coppins family interests of a green space area currently owned by the
town in the Lewistowne Park subdivision-Raymond Drive neighborhood.
Reiter noted that he and the board have been actively pursing letting
the town's numerous green space lots be sold off. More news on
this, at next month's meeting.